HIV and Hepatitis C

[Guest guest]

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" Baby Peanut " <baby_p_nut

Re: [AIDSAlternatives] HIV and Hepatitis C

 

 

Well I'd say stay away from Viramune (Nevirapine) since it's liver toxic.

 

http://www.viramune.com/

 

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/recent/toxicities/120400.html

 

Norvir (Ritonavir) isn't too cool for a weak liver either.

 

http://www.aegis.com/pubs/atn/2000/ATN33502.html

 

Looks like Sustiva (efavirenz) is bad too:

 

http://www.ahcpr.gov/research/apr02/0402RA30.htm

 

Epivir® brand lamivudine (3TC) is not very toxic. It also is reported to

cause viral mutations which lead to weak virus. But there are warnings about

liver problems.

 

http://www.aidsmeds.com/drugs/Epivir.htm

 

That really sucks, 3TC is supposed to be one of the least toxic of the

chemotheraputic agents.

 

The new Viread is supposed to be less toxic, but who knows since it's so

new.

 

One of the problems is the one-size-fits-all dosing that dumb-dumb doctors

use.

If you liver is not doing its job then you will not be able to eliminate

antiviral medications at the rate someone with a good liver can and therefor

the doses with be higher for you as the drugs accumulate since you can't

eliminate them. If you notice some of the reports I linked to state the

liver

toxicity sometimes takes weeks to manifest; it is very likely that the dose

of

the meds takes that long to accumulate to dangerous levels.

 

There is a procedure known as theraputic drug level monitoring (TDM) but it

has

not taken off probably because drug companies see it as a way of getting

less

drugs sold.

 

http://www.google.com/search? q=therapeutic+drug+level+monitoring

 

Maybe the question should be " what supplements can be used to reduce liver

damage? " I'd say Alpha-Lipoic Acid, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, CoQ-10, milk thistle

seed extract (but this one may interfer with protease inhibitors.)

 

Also if you can get your viral load down to undetectable (which is hard

since

the hepatitis aggravates it) you could consider trying Structured

Intermittant

Therapy (SIT) to reduce toxicities but that won't work if you have a

detectable

viral load while on the anti-virals.